Meet our President's Award Winner Steve Jarnagin

The wealth of knowledge and experience Steve brings to CRI has deepened our collective approach to move management, ensuring seamless and reliable service, no matter the destination.  

Throughout Steve’s 23 years with CRI, he has faced a decent amount of move opportunities himself, albeit small scale compared to his portfolio of projects at CRI. Although he currently works remotely from California, Steve traces his origins with CRI back to one of our early locations (in Addison, Texas), where he used his considerable experience in the household goods moving industry to help build CRI’s international relocation contingent.

“Basically, I’ve done all the jobs,” Steve says, noting that he began in the industry as a packer/helper with Bekins Van Lines, a Dallas-based moving company.

“Soon after I was hired by Bekins, I started assisting with their moves, not just packing but instead doing actual physical movement of the items. I ended up getting a contract with Bekins, got my own trucks, and worked as a long-distance driver while at the same time managing local moves back at the home office,” he says. His days on the road didn’t last too long – only a couple of years – and what came next put him on the path he is on today.

“I started working in the office at Bekins, first as an operations manager, and then as the general manager for their moving storage location in Fort Worth. I became the operations manager for Bekins EDC Moving Systems (currently known as Atlas) and then eventually took over as their warehouse manager.” Steve’s journey from the bottom up is a testament to his deep-seated knowledge of the industry, strengthening the integrity of CRI’s international relocation program overall.

Q & A: 

What components make up a good team? 

Working together, and not being afraid to ask, or be asked, questions. There are no stupid questions. If you aren’t sure what to do, ask someone. It’s all about having good communication skills.

What are three critical traits a client should look for in a relocation management company? 

I would say the most important are communication skills, transparency, and a good performance on the product you are providing, which in this case is moving John Doe from point A to point B. All the skills and transparency and processes mean absolutely nothing if the shipment gets there and John Doe is furious, screaming into the phone, and all the furniture is destroyed. That’s the proof that performance matters. A company should also be easy to work with – it’s one of the keys to their success.

Where would you relocate to? 

Somewhere in Europe – either Italy, Spain or Belgium. The history, the old buildings, the narrow cobblestone streets, the sidewalk cafes with bistro tables – all that would be great.

What is the best advice you’ve ever received? 

The best advice? To take things slow and one step at a time. Don’t get too far ahead of yourself. Finish one thing and then go on to the next thing.

What are you excited about? 

We’ve all just been beaten down since 2020 so I’m hopeful about having a better year. I’m pretty excited about 2023.